LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: WHERE IS THE TOUGH REPORTING ABOUT THE CLINTON SEX SCANDAL?

To the editor:

The Associated Press stories you have run have pussyfooted around the tough questions (the national media still leaning to the left apparently) about the Clinton sex scandal. If the reader wants to know the real story, read the Post-Dispatch's editorial section on Dec. 22 (or the conservative American Spectator, whose article was apparently even more devastating).

The Post, liberal organization that it is, did not do any investigating on its own, of course. But it did have the guts to run the LA Times copyrighted story, which said, among other things:

-- That four state troopers, not two, are making the allegations about the president's numerous girlfriends, besides Gennifer Flowers, during his tortuous reign as Arkansas governor. But only two are allowing their names to be used. One, Roger Perry, 44, a 16-year state police vet, is president of the state police association. All served for years on Clinton's security detail; all verify the allegations of constant sexual trysts.

-- Perry and another trooper, Larry Patterson, 49, a 26-year state police vet, signed affidavits for the LA Times to buttress their accounts.

-- Patterson claims that during the presidential campaign, when Clinton was away from his regular sweetheart, he at one point had run up $40 worth of calls to his lover at state expense. R.L. Buddy Young, then chief of Clinton's security detail (and now, of course, an appointee to a federal job), told Patterson he would have to take the heat for the calls if the national media started investigating. Which, fortunately for Clinton, they didn't. (Doesn't say much for investigative journalism, does it, considering that hundreds of news hounds were in Ark. looking for scandal in those days?)

-- Incomplete phone records from Clinton's car phone and from his hotel rooms between 1989 and 1991 show 59 calls to this particular woman's home and her office. On one day alone, the records show 11 calls to her home from Clinton's cellular phone. (These are not unsubstantiated claims; they are verifiable state records.)

-- Records show one call from Clinton's hotel room was placed at 1:23 a.m. It lasted 94 minutes. Asked to explain, White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum -- this is the guy who looted the office of the Clinton aide who committed suicide -- says, "This president calls a lot of people." (And apparently one in particular a lot of times.)

-- In March 1990 Clinton wrote a personal check to cover the $40 in phone calls. At the bottom of the canceled check he wrote "phone calls," which would seem to confirm that he made them and not one of his security guards.

-- Young, now holding down a $92,000-a-year FEMA job, called some of the four troopers in the fall to find how what they were doing, but denies he tried to intimidate them into silence. He admits, though, that he flew to Washington to discuss the allegations with the president and gave Clinton the name of at least one of the troopers.

The White House confirms that Clinton called one trooper several times, but of course it denies the president tried to buy his silence with a federal job offer.

-- One of the troopers says he took a woman to the governor's mansion three times after Clinton was elected president in Nov. 1992. These liaisons took place about 5:15 a.m., he claims. He says he stood guard at the basement door while the president-elect (an admitted long-time admirer of former president John Kennedy in more ways than one, apparently) rendezvoused downstairs as Hillary slept upstairs. (One supposes this sort of liaison may have heightened the excitement, but the national media hasn't asked the prez for details.)

-- The troopers say Clinton had a long relationship with Gennifer Flowers, which the prez has denied. They say they handled hundreds of phone calls from her to the then governor while Hillary was out of town, which, apparently, didn't occur often enough to suit the future leader of the country.

They also say one of the girlfriends used to collect the guv during his morning jog, returning him a bit later. (No one asked whether the guv appeared fatigued or energized by these encounters.) They cite frequent liaisons at this girlfriend's condo or the guv's mansion, presumably in the early a.m. or while Hillary was working or traveling. The affair continued during Jan. 1993, the month he took the oath as president, they say.

-- Patterson claims he overheard the guv asking a state officer to give Gennifer a job. Clinton denies it but Gennifer did get the job over several better qualified applicants.

The troopers say they shielded Clinton's extramarital affairs, frequently picked up gifts from Clinton to his various girlfriends and often drove him in his state limousine to meetings with them.

The troopers named four women. The Times did not, but it did report that in interviews the four admitted knowing Clinton, though they denied romantic relationships.

Now, of course, an Arkansas insurance company lawyer has attacked the credibility of the two troopers who have gone public, claiming they tried to rip off his company with a car accident scam. Which may well be true, but it does not necessarily mean that the troopers are lying about Clinton. As a five-year-resident of Arkansas, I can testify that it is not unusual for a native to have a scam going. Certain parts of their story -- e.g., the phone calls -- are a matter of record .

Questions the AP failed to ask in its subsequent weak-kneed interview with the president:

1. Mr. Clinton, you say these allegations are outrageous. So why did you pay for the $40 worth of calls to your alleged lover's house and business? Who is this woman, what is or was your relationship with her, is she married, and does Hillary know about your friendship, romantic or otherwise, with her?

2. Why did you call her house and business at least 59 times from your car and hotel rooms while campaigning for the nation's highest office? Why did you call her 11 times in one day?

3. Why did you call a lowly Arkansas state trooper several times this fall, if not to try to persuade him not to talk publicly about his allegations?

4. Why did Buddy Young meet with you in Washington to discuss the allegations, if there is nothing to them?

5. You promoted Buddy Young from a $30,000 state police job and overnight made him a $92,000-a-year federal employee. What are his qualifications for the new position (paid for by taxpayers), did he require any training and how well is he handling his new duties ?

6. What exactly is wrong in your relationship with your wife? Have you considered counseling?

Bill Zellmer

Cape Girardeau